The New York Times ran an article this week showing what Biblical counselors and pastors have always known: couples who cohabit before marriage are less satisfied with marriage and more likely to divorce than those who do not. Several of the illustrative stories include people ending the marriage after 1 year even though they had cohabitated for years before getting married.

One of the biggest problems is that those who cohabitate tend to start with convenience in mind, not a successful marriage. Eventually it becomes a “good idea,” so they go through with it without any real reason for marriage or even thoroughly thinking through the ramifications. It becomes a purgatory of sorts that is not really married but not really not. There are reasons why marriage is outlined in the Bible the way that it is. If you try it other ways or try to distort it, it will not work. It is hard enough to make it work the right way.

Another key piece of insight was that many couples spend more time preparing for their wedding than their marriage. In my experience this is true for many people, especially those who do not take the time to do thorough premarriage counseling.

This is why premarriage counseling is so heavily emphasized here at Biblical Change. It makes a huge difference. It is better to build a solid foundation than to try to rebuild it later. When I do a wedding we make sure that it is a good ceremony, but we spend more time working on the relationship side of things, whether that is what they actually want to do or not.

Marriage and premarriage counseling are the most popular services we provide. Please contact us if you are interested. We can do premarriage for you even if you already have someone else to officiate your ceremony.

This article is a review of a book that goes in depth on marriage and sex. As such, this is probably not appropriate for an audience who is young or not married.

Review of Intended for Pleasure by Ed Wheat

By Caleb Horn

Summary

Ed Wheat, M.D. is a retired family physician. He has also been involved in Christian marriage and pre-marriage counseling for many years. He has written several other books as well, Including Love Life for Every Married Couple.

Due to the subject matter and the nature of the internet, I am not going to be as descriptive as the book is. This review refers to the 3rd edition of the book.

Wheat goes into great detail about the physical aspects of the marriage relationship (sex; there, I said it!). He is very descriptive of how everything works, including going in depth about technique. There is a section of the book dealing with common problems, including a chapter focused on the most common physical issue for both husband and wife.

One of the other most useful sections is one that talks about different options for birth control (a strong anti-abortion stance is taken), including various methods and the effectiveness of each, which is very good to hear about from a doctor (the most recent edition is 1997, so a few of the newer methods are not included). It is very clearly communicated that since this can be such a hot-button issue for many believers, it should be discussed by the couple during engagement. He clearly defines his stance: “As I discuss various methods with you . . . please understand that I am not recommending these methods, but only giving you medical information. Family planning in a private matter for which you and your partner must take full responsibility. The decision is yours. You must determine if you want to use an artificial means of contraception, a natural method of avoiding pregnancy, or no method at all.”[1] This is a good stance for Biblical Counselors to take since it does not force personal opinion onto counselees. It is a good idea to use a good resource like this since most of us are not medical doctors, and even if we are, we are not functioning as the counselee’s doctor. Like many issues, this is one that should be discussed between the counselee and physician.

In the same chapter is an area that deals with tips for getting pregnant, and the following gives advice for how to enjoy each other while pregnant without endangering anyone’s health.

Another useful section of the book deals with STDs. Unfortunately, this issue is much more common in Christian marriages than it used to be (As a side note, the best way to not get an STD is to not have sex until you are married! Even though there are many greater reasons to make that choice, this one should be enough of a factor by itself. But from my experience in counseling and ministry, very few individuals choose the same path that my wife and I each chose as a teenager. Most people don’t believe us either. But yes waiting till you are married, is all it is cracked up to be!!! Her doctor loves seeing her since she is so low risk and has none of the issue listed in this book. It is a great benefit when you are pregnant, as well).

There is also a helpful Q&A section dealing with anything not covered in other areas.

Biblical Critique/Practical Application

Aside from Biblical Principles of Sex by Dr. Bob Smith, this book is the best Christian resource available on the subject of sex (try as we might, no one has been able to convince Dr. Bob to write a full-length work on the topic).[2] All of the other books I have found on the topic so far as very psychologies. [3]

The most useful sections of this book are the ones that focus on the physical. Some of the spiritual/emotional areas are more Christian psychology than Biblical advice (he even quotes a couple of Christian psychologists here and there).

The most useful chapters are: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. These are really the only chapters which should be recommended.

Chapter 3 is almost useful, but does have some self-serving thinking. Chapters 9,10, 16, 17 should be avoided. It is a better idea to skip these chapters since those topics are better covered by Smith

In pre-marriage counseling, the best time for this book is toward the end, maybe a week or two before the wedding. Being a guy and knowing how guys are, it is best to not give an extra stumbling block of temptation earlier than necessary. It may work for the future wife to read it a bit earlier. The couple should also be advised to have their own copy and take it with them on the honeymoon for reference if needed (as previously noted, a lack of experience here is a very good thing and should be the goal!)

Where is work needed?

Ideally someone would write a book including both the physical aspects and a Biblical understanding of the other aspects of the marriage relationship (spiritual, emotional, etc).

Until then, counselors must be diligent as always verifying the biblical accuracy of the resources we use, including sometimes picking and choosing which part of a book to recommend.